Dabbling in crafts

Post navigation

Viva las VegasStamps, Cogs embossing folder from Tim Holtz. Not sure how I made it… looks like I embossed the paper, coloured it with inks (or couloured the embossing folder) then flattened the middle piece again by making a small rectangular stack. The edge is done with crayons and distress inks. A ghost image of the soldier and the dancing lady in the frame.

The question is, who is thinking of who? The soldier, masculine, “business” (as in, war, violence) or the dancer (love(r), emotion, pure). Is he in her mind of is she in his? Are they truely seperated in distance or are they separated in class? The soldier, following the laws and rules without question vs the gypsy, free thinking spirit. No matter what, they are longing for eachother.

Like this:

Nothing to do with the cards, but the fact that time keeps moving relentlessly. Seem every autumn I’m spending more energy then I have – how I wished I could just take time off work from the 1st of October untill the end of january. Sort of a wintersleep. Alas, in modern day society taking such a time off is hardly possible. Not working is hardly possible – we could manage but would have to flip every coin twice. Don’t look forward to that, so I’ll just keep going on.

Eventhough I haven’t blogged, it doesn’t mean I haven’t created. It just meant I spent what little time I had on creating tangible things instead of some bits and bytes.
I do regret to say I haven’t had time to read other peoples blog either. So maybe I just did them a favour – I didn’t read theirs (yours?) but you wouldn’t have to worry about not reading mine as there was nothing to read. On to the cards now, as that is why you are here. (Right?)

…is what the subjects of the next cards seem to have in common. Dragons, knights, godesses, pure and brave hearts.

The first card, the dragon and t he knight, is an old one. I made it 3 years ago and had kept it as it wasn’t finished at that time. I finally framed it.
The cards are lying under a glass plate, to flatten them out a bit more.

I still have to take better pictures of all these cards and show them better, but there is one I’d like to show a bit more in this post as I’ve given it to someone allready.

And that is the stamp Pearl Gazing, by a design from Renee Biertempfel, produced by Sweet Pea Stamps (now retired). It’s the bottom middle card. I have tried to copy the exact artwork there, I often do that the first time I use a stamp to get a feel of how to colour it.

I didn’t take daylight pictures and then it was time to leave to the party… so just a quick picture. It was a double birthday, for a mother and daughter.

My daughter also made cards🙂

This is a Santoro Mirabelle stamp.

And last another zoomed in image of Pearl Gazing, as I really like how it turned out. Too bad I didn’t get a better picture of it, I guess I’ll have to remake it😉.

Like this:

Or rather twenties. I’m not good with years. I only got a feeling of old times when we got this wedding invitation.

In case of birth announcements or wedding invitations I like to give a card in the same style. So for this card I used the same colour palette (with an added warm copper colour as they have sepia in the picture). After their wedding they would go on a honeymoon to Cuba. Her weddingdress was a fifties style dress, looked great! Totally not as on the card😉. Ofcourse I made this card way in advance and on time. (NOT! – probably was a day or two before…)

Oh wauw I only just noticed that now it kind of looks like she has a bare bottom! I’ll just say it only looks that way on the pictures, not IRL…

Bronze distress stickles as glittery accents and that pearl powder from ranger. Bronze coloured as well.

Quite pleased with the result, it matched their invitation quite well (while not knowing the exact timeframe of their invitation).

This card was made a year ago. Or a year and a half ago. I really liked this card so I wanted to make a good post about it. Perhaps sell the background digitally. Oh well, i let the dream of a webshop go, as it doesn’t fit my other ideals of less waste and less controbution to waste and posession in this world. I am kind of tired of things revolving around selling things people don’t need, just to make profit to grow bigger and to sell more… I do not want to empower that even more (I know I do by buying things, but hey, I’m trying hard on other areas in my life to be living a sustainable, ecofriendly life!)

Anyway, this wasn’t about the card. Or perhaps it was? In my mind the card was named Journey, as the little dots were making a journey across the card. Like microorganisms travelling. Oh this picture really doesn’t do it justice.

The background was made with the paint and kitchen foil technique, as mentioned here. It didn’t need much more, i didn’t want to cover this background a lot so I just made little dots with perlen pens and marbled those a bit.

The card needed a frame, but not an ordinatry one. It should fit with the journey/stone like feeling. So this was the start:

Distress ink pumice stone and forest moss through the cell theory stencil of TCW. Then with the marker spritzing / airbrush tool from ranger add the specks to the stones while the mask is still laying down.

I’m not sure anymore what I did here, but I know it involved clear embossing one layer. Eventually all layers were clear embossed but I can’t remember in which order.

Which way is up?

Below: After clear embossing the layers, add more distress ink.

See how the center lights up? I loved this stoney effect of the border! Like an opening in a strange cave you look into. Or out of.

I tried this again on another piece of paper.

Also made a a frame with modeling paste. Looked better on the other ” frame” card then on the turqoise and violet/purple card.

So as often is the case, I made a less attention attracting border with distress ink and sponges and distress markers and the airbrush tool.

Oh the card looks so.. different on the pictures. The dark purple spots look very random (they are), but the focus is on the little microbes and their journey. They change colour while travelling, as they encounter things that change them. Let’s see if I can find a closeup.

That doesn’t help either. It’s just one of those cards you have to see in real life. And maybe to you it’s nothing special, to me it was.

Come to think of it… these pictures are taken 24th of September 2014, my niece was still in a coma after a severe accident in June where she suffered a major headinjury. She had had another major surgery two weeks before (a piece of her skull that had been removed in June because of swellings was placed back, so she was ” whole” again), and I think I was hoping that her cells were regenerating and filling the gaps. New connections being made. Lost connections being restored or regrown. We still didn’t know wether she would a.) wake up. and b.) if she did, would she be a “vegetbale”? How much of her was still there? My youngest son was 3 months old then, and he was growing. His cells were regenerating, dividing, expanding. I hoped hers would too. She did wake up, slowly, and slowly became more conscious of the world around her again. She couldn’t move a thing, could only watch. With extensive training she learned a lot again. Nowadays she’s in an electric wheelchair. The left side of her body still doesn’t function easily, and she hasn’t gotten her speech back yet, but lately she’s making more sound / saying words. We’ve got good hopes that she will speak again without a computer. See here for the Dutch episode of ” Geef om je hersenen” for the Brainfoundation. From 36:00 there is a story about Vanja, it’s almost the same story as my neece her story, only she has rehabilitated more.

A journey. Through memories and emotions. A journey to healing, full of hope.

It’s been quiet here, but luckily I occasionally find some time to craft.

Here are a few cards again.

The first few were made from a big background I had made maybe a year ago (See Goodbye Lullabye part 1 and part 2). As the colours are very bright it just laid there, me not knowing what to do with it. Adding another colour would not fit. Then I got some Banksy stamps from Vivalasvegastamps, and some Art Journey stamps – both are stenciled style stamps, very suitable for stamping in one colour.

Background made with TCW cell theory 12×12 stencil. Text is from Indigo Blu and the painter is from Banksy via VivaLasVegaStamps.

The card isn’t rectangular, the lower right corner is 90 degrees, but the upper left is bigger. I felt that fit the sentiment better then a straight card.

Same background stencil (TCW cell theory 12×12). Droplet branches and girl with umbrella are from Art Journey. The text is probably from De-Stempelwinkel, I love this poetry /proza kind of text. Lets imagination roam freely.

Oh this one isn’t finished yet. What I did here so far is add a layer of modelling paste through a TCW stencil. I stamped the Banksy girl onto regular tissue paper, carefully removed the upper layer of the tissue paper so there is only one layer left and then used decoupage glue on the card and carefully laid down the tissue on top of it and smoothed it out. It tears easily so be very carefull and accept a few folds here and there. To make the edges of the tissue paper less obvious, don’t use scissors to cut out the image but tear it out, the ragged edges blend better.

My computer gave up a few weeks ago and, after getting new parts, was restored to a point in january. I am sure I’ve posted some of the next cards allready, but can’t find proof… Then probably it was only on facebook. (Or just because they’ve been waiting to go online for several months?)

PC is fixed now, and in a better spot in my house which means I can sit rather comfortably behind it, and all the diseases are slowly diminishing.

I’ve visited the Art Specially Event in Nijkerk at the 10th of April, and ofcourse didn’t stick to my budget. Which means I now own a small round gelliplate and pan pastels. I couldn’t remember at the event WHY I didn’t get it before or what had put me off, but I did remember as I was playing around with them at home. It means a new range of products I am going to need to collect…. It’s probably my subconscious trying to keep feeding the addiction, as I have told myself I’ve got enough stamps and cannot get more. Still many many uses with the ones I’ve got. So I am only allowed to get materials that are used up. Like glue and the new distress inks, markers. I didn’t intend to get new media… really…

Ofcourse now you expect a post about my experiments with it – but alas, as I’ve said this is about older cards from before my trip to Nijkerk. (It was a strange trip. No constant talking in the car, no questions, no ” Mom,..Mom..Momm!). It was strange. I thought I’d love it, sing out loud with my music, feel “free”, but it wasn’t like that. The music didn’t do the trick. My mind was still going everywhere and nowhere. Probably because I had an extremely busy week I was a bit numb. The event was good, I participated in a take and make (gelliplate and pan pastels…) and got my mojo back. I hadn’t been crafting in a few weeks due to ” reasons” (had moved my crafting supplies and wasn’t sure I liked the new storage, not used to it, not wanting to make a mess (tired), got a cold etc..)

I’m digressing, again.

Cards…

Made with cutoffs from other cards. Glue them on cardstock, add some finish to it (I used Mod Podge decoupage glue) and stamp a sentiment on it.

This one has been almost finished for a year or more. I had just the panel with the mermaid, not sure if I had put the dots (paper pen dots) in the swirls then, that might have been a later addition. All I did to finish it is (maybe add the dots and) frame it… Chocolate Baroque mermaid and Designs by Ryn swirls and School of Fish.

Hmm I’ve shown this one, haven’t I? Or only on facebook? In that case: It’s the Queen of Hearts by Rachel Anderson from Sweet Pea Stamps (discontinued). Crackle backround is Indigo Blue. The pinkish background is a leftover piece from a year ago.

The leftover piece on which the queen of hearts is stamped is from this set of cards, I even mentioned in the post I saved it (it’s the piece of paper I cleaned my brush on…)

Trying out that beautiful blending I see on many of the Lavinia cards. This looks quite ok but is not entirely right, it’ s missing a branch or something at the top. All stamps are Lavinia stamps, and the treetrunk is stamped twice to create a higher treetrunk (the stamp is only half the cardheight size).

Raindrops stamp is from Designs by Ryn, as are the mermaid, origami lily and crane. Backgrounds are made with TCW stencils in the first two cards. Not sure how I made the background in the last card, could be bister and a stencil. The text in the last card is from Indigo Blue. (I think, from the Boadicea set). Cards have a tiny bit of white gelpen and stickles accents

Not sure what it is called in English, but these are gifts for a women who has just given birth. It’s not a national tradition / custom, just something some people do. You make a basket with gifts, I think it was originally one for each day the mother had to stay in bed. (used to be a week? No idea). Anyway, the gifts are for the mother, who has had both physical and emotional a major experience. So no or not only baby things that make the mother feel good. My friend lives at 3 hrs driving so I made her a nice package. Gifts included chocolate from a chocolatier (not sure if that is English), instant soup, lavender oil, olive oil soap, felted flowers and some more I forgot.

Like this:

Well, it’s not really mojo that has been missing but health in various members if the household and me. Flu, throataches, colds, lack of energy. We need spring. We need sun. I did make some cards past few weeks, time to show them. This post shows the most mojo-less cards.

Deel dit / Share this:

Like this:

Post navigation

Looking for something?

Search

Welcome!

Hello, welcome to my blog! I am...
Debbie (nickname Daqa); the partner of a wonderful man; mother of 3 kids (2011, 2013, 2014); sister; aunt; Dutch; dog and cat lover; gamer (or should I say geek?); IT-consultant living in Bunde, Zuid-Limburg, The Netherlands. I love to try out different crafts, but mostly, I like to make paper things.

My blog is about crafting, and my life and things I find interesting. (pictures I've taken, events in my life and things or ideas I find worth thinking about). I hope you enjoy reading my blog! Still want to know more about me and my blog? Click the image!

Top 3 Country View Crafts

Top 5

Dear Viltalakim readers, I realised I haven't been checking this blog since a very long time. I just want to let you know I started a new blog back in January 2015 about Meg's rehabilitation. link can be found in the bottom. Tuesday, 20 January 2015 New blog I descided to start a new blog [...]